Journal Entries
healthy living
Posted Sep 18, 2002
Decided to get fit by cycling to work and back.
Fell off mountain bike whilst trundling downhill at 20mph+.
Do not feel remotely fitter, and nor is my bank balance seeing as the mountain bike required over a hundred quid's worth of repairs.
Just for the record, the braking distance for a largeish woman travelling at around 20mph downhill on a bike on a VERY gritty road using only her elbow as a brake is around 10 painful metres... That was almost a month ago, and there's still one bit of my elbow that's not quite healed up yet
Discuss this Journal entry [2]
Latest reply: Sep 18, 2002
a stitch in time... or nine
Posted Jul 25, 2002
I have nine stitches in my scalp! The last of a bunch of yukky sebaceous cysts has been excised from my bonce, leaving a colourful spray of electric blue nylon ends of stitches.
I look like the Bride of Frankenstein, only with more colourful scars. Now would be quite a good time to go to a fancy dress party, I suppose; or start a new career in Goth-a-Grams...
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 25, 2002
gadding about
Posted Jul 21, 2002
Just got back from a week in Finland, staying with relatives. Spent most of the week at a lakeside cottage in eastern Finland (i.e. Karelia, not all that far from the Russian border). Finland has relatively few inhabitants (less than a tenth of the UK population), a very large area, bordered by Sweden, Norway and Russia, and hundreds of thousands of lakes, some small and unnamed, many very large indeed. The majority of the rest of the countryside is forested, and, despite the fact that these are largely managed forests, they manage to support a lot of wildlife including wolves, bears, lynx, pine martens and a lot of elk. Most of which I didn't see, as they're shy, and don't tend to show themselves in the bright, hot, summer weather.
Yes folks, in case my uncle is reading this, I've been instructed to tell everyone that Finnish summers are HOT! It's not all frozen wasteland all year round. We spent most of the time lounging around in a pretty log cottage next to a beautiful lake surrounded by birch and pine forest. The mosquitos, I'm happy to report, were not too bad, and lots of sauna-ing, swimming and botanising took place without too much discomfort.
The cottage was very pretty, but I was also taken with Helsinki. It is typically expansive, covering a huge area, and has a clean, new look compared with British infrastructure (which tends always to be constrained by all the previous, older structures which went before). The district heating system was quietly impressive, too. Somehow Scandinavian countries in general are good at spreading wealth around, giving a relatively affluent feel to the place without anyone actually being filthy rich. Food for thought.
What does "gadding" actually mean?
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 21, 2002
the wages of extravagance...
Posted Jun 24, 2002
Well, I got a new computer. It's not online yet (XP modem drivers being a wee bit elusive) so I'm still using the old one for mailing. A special desk, (well, more like a throne) is being prepared for the new machine, which is currently squeezed uncomfortably alongside the old one. I can only imagine the social awkwardness this is generating.
Much as I'm impressed with the new machine, I've already hit one snag: the file transfer program doesn't work, and the patch is unfindable, and the dark lords of Microsoft have not yet issued forth a service pack. Otherwise it all seems refreshingly functional and uncrashable.
Unfortunately, the exhilaration of finally getting an adequate computer is palling under the neck strain of having to crane round and use the old computer in the corner every time I want to send messages. Plus there's the small matter of not having any cash left...
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 24, 2002
It's official :-)
Posted May 9, 2002
Yay! It's not winter any more!
Went to the Beltane Camp in Sulby Valley - a rare example of an "alternative" Manx event. There was lovely relaxed atmosphere, good weather, good bands & p/a, and impressive fire wanging, fire juggling, fire-burning-a-big-wicker-man, fire-getting-somewhat-out-of-hand-and-burning-a-tent and other time-honoured fire festival frolics.
The Sulby Valley is worth a visit for those investigating the scenery on the Isle of Man. At the moment it's just starting to develop a carpet of bluebells and other spring flowers. The surrounding hills are impressive, and the clear streams are pretty now that the flowers are out. 
If you want to hear the three great melodies of creation, this would, in my opinion, be a good place to start. (If you count newborn lambs as babies, that is....)
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 9, 2002
ecotype
Researcher U185445
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."